Databricks CEO @alighodsi describes the difficulties of building a business around open source: "You have to hit two home runs, consecutively." "Your first home run - and you're banking on hitting that home run - is that your open source project takes over the world. Everybody wants to download it." If you don't hit that home run, Ali says, you just shot yourself in the foot. You just gave away your IP and got nothing back for it. But even if you hit this home run, you still don't have a monetizable business. You still can't make any money. So you have to hit the second home run: "You need a 10x innovation on top of the open source. That's the proprietary value you'll provide companies. That's why they'll come to you. Otherwise, they can get the open source anywhere." If you don't hit the second home run, the hyperscalers pick up your open source model, and they offer it for almost-free. "Getting into open source and monetizing is not an easy sport. Preferably don't get into it, because you might get hurt."